WITHIN a couple of months of Pakatan Harapan coming to power in the May 2018 general election, it formed an Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) made up of academics, lawyers and political operatives to look into issues like the polls system Malaysia should use in the future, political funding and donations, nomination procedures and the construction of electoral rolls. The committee is headed by Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who was chairman of the Election Commission (EC) between 2000 and 2008.

The ERC has travelled around Malaysia on a road show to canvass public views, and enlisted the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme for Electoral Reform Assistance Project for its review. The ERC is canvassing the proportional representation and mixed-member majoritarian system, a mix between single-member constituencies and party lists to make up Parliament, currently popular within the region. The final report is due the third quarter this year.

However, the report will not be binding for the government.

Talk within the upper circles of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bersatu is that there is hesitancy to change a system that brought PH to power, particularly if it favours multiracial parties like the Chinese-based DAP and Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR over Malay-dominated outfits like Bersatu.

However, there is a great fallacy in believing that electoral reform itself will turn Malaysia into a fair, open and fully fledged democracy. A much deeper reform of Malaysia’s institutions and processes is required to transform the country into any form of an open democracy.

There can be no real spirit of democracy without a clear sense of national purpose. The formation of Malaysia back in 1963 united peoples of distinctly different histories. Bringing them together in unity was challenging in itself. The national narratives that have evolved in the last generation over race, religion and rights are segregating the country, taking it further away from any sense of unity. There is no consensus on what Malaysia should aspire to be. Political parties are part of the problem, as their prime focus has been on gaining power, rather than pursuing national aspirations.

Today’s national narratives do little to encourage democracy. They oppress minority expression and alternative views. Democracy starts with a narrative, and the aspirations contained within them.

The type of electoral system that Malaysia finally adopts will heavily influence both the political culture and culture of governance. Maintaining single-member electorates, even with correcting malapportionment and gerrymandering, will tend to maintain a racially based political party system. Some form of proportional representation will empower more minority groupings, leading to more diversity in the political narrative.

A well-designed electoral system will force political parties to become more inclusive in governance, at least in theory. However, as we have seen, Bersatu, despite its small grouping within Parliament, has been able to dominate the PH coalition.

The above must be accompanied by a truly independent EC that is responsible to Parliament rather than the executive, and an independent commission to determine electoral constituencies, governed by strict guidelines, primarily based on the principle of “one vote, one value”. Electoral reforms should also not leave out the Dewan Negara, Parliament’s upper house.

The Dewan Negara, or Senate, is made up of 69 members – two members elected by the assemblies of the 13 states, and 43 appointed by the Agong, by convention, on the advice of the prime minister. The Senate has two major roles to play in a modern federation. The first is to safeguard state rights, and the second is to act as a house of review. However, the Senate’s role as a house of review has been undermined by the sheer weight of federal appointees outnumbering state appointees.

As a house of review, the Senate tends to be a rubber stamp for the government of the day. The upper house is totally undemocratic as it is not elected by the people, even though there are provisions within the constitution for the direct election of state representatives by the people. Technically, the Senate, by the nature of the 43 representatives nominated by the king, is a royal house as well. However, in reality, the government of the day uses the Senate as a house of convenience to fast-track ministers, if so required. The sham of the Senate today is that there are 16 vacant seats in the house. A reform of the Senate is mandatory for Malaysia to become a full democracy.

The basic law of the country is its constitution. The constitution sets out the structure of the various arms of the government, and their respective limits when it comes to power. This document has been trampled on by successive governments, which have amended the constitution no less than 57 times since 1957. The constitution is too easy to amend, sometimes amended in haste and semi-secrecy, requiring only an amendment act passed by two-thirds of MPs. The power to amend the constitution needs to be taken away from the executive and placed with the people, whereby a referendum is required to make any changes to it.

The Federal Court has been traditionally reluctant to nullify federal and state legislation deemed as breaching the constitution. The court system needs to assert itself as a truly independent arm of the government, as a custodian in upholding the constitution.

Local elections were suspended in Malaysia during the 1964 Indonesian confrontation. They have not been reinstated since. Today, under the Local Government Act 1976, city, municipal and rural council members are selected by their respective state governments, and by the federal government in the Federal Territories. Accountability and transparency are notoriously missing within local governments. Thus, the government operating closest to the people, affecting their daily lives, is totally undemocratic.

Local governments should be a check and balance against the power of the state and federal governments, rather than a subservient extension. Local governments are also an incubator of future political leaders.

The nation is desperately in need of this valuable resource. Although the PH manifesto advocated the democratisation of local government, Dr Mahathir is on public record as being against local government elections because they would supposedly lead to racial conflicts, and widen the urban-rural gap.

Federalism needs a rebalance. The federal government has taken too much power away from the states over the years. There needs to be a genuine respect and acceptance of the division of powers between the state and federal governments. This is not just about a new deal for Sabah and Sarawak; all state governments have had their sovereignty eroded by the federal government.

State governments need to be nurtured, and where good leaders who put state interests before party interests, independent of the federal government, are found. National development and management need to be taken as a cooperative exercise, where the government respects the will of the people, even if a state government is ruled by the opposition. This would require a necessary paradigm change for Malaysia if democracy is to evolve further.

Not just the government, but political parties, too, have become centralised. Currently, central party leaders basically have the final say on candidates standing in elections. This is disenfranchising the grassroots, who should have a major say in who their political candidates are. National party offices should be peak bodies and facilitators, where political power is distributed back to the grassroots. This will help prevent any one group from dominating the party, and allow for much more diversity in thinking within Parliament.

The key to overhauling Malaysia’s pseudo-democracy is a national debate on what the nation could and should become. There is an urgency to this. This dialogue must be done openly through the media, schools and universities, and all possible forums. It must begin with a true retrospective review of history so it is appreciated, with a “no holds barred” situational audit publicly carried out on today’s political, social and economic situations. Once the past and present are honestly reflected on, the future can be discussed in what could be called “A Charter for the Great Nation of Malaysia”.

With Malaysia’s institutions crumbling and the critical consciousness needed for progress quickly disappearing, it is imperative that the hang-up of Ketuanan Melayu and acceptance of corruption are abandoned so that we are not locked in the past, without any hope of seeing the bright future of a nation that should be called “great”. – January 30, 2020.

* Murray Hunter reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.